Rockmelt Ends Its Browser Dreams

Rockmelt announced Thursday it would soon end support for its desktop browser service, instead transitioning its user base to its mobile apps and newly launched Web-based product. The company, helmed by ex-Netscape engineers and backed by Marc Andreessen, aimed to reinvent the browser with social capabilities. But as Rockmelt subtly admitted in its post, Google’s Chrome momentum was just too much to keep up with.

Just as the atom bomb was the weapon that was supposed to render war obsolete, the Internet seems like capitalism’s ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again. It’s especially hopeless for those whose work is easily digitized and accessed free of charge.

— Author Tim Kreider on not getting paid for one’s work

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